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To his credit, Ward 3 Councillor Bernie Morelli is tackling the issue, which is appropriate considering his ward has among the highest concentrations of single-family homes that have been divided up into apartments, many illegally. Although illegal apartments are a problem across the city, the issue is most pressing in neighbourhoods facing the greatest challenges economically and socially. A Spectator Code Red feature in 2010 pointed out that there were just over 11,000 residences in the inner city’s Ward 3 and 1,385 of them were duplexes all the way up to six-plexes. In Ancaster’s Ward 12, there were 10,500 residences — 13 duplexes, one triplex and one fourplex. Fifteen multi-unit residences in Ancaster, 1,385 of them in Ward 3. In areas such as Ward 3, there are more older homes, people have less money to spend and rents are typically lower than in more affluent areas. And renters have fewer options, so are more likely to put up with substandard and illegal conditions.

Morelli says part of the answer is licensing apartments, as the City of Waterloo recently did when it levied a $461 licence fee on all rental units. Some sort of similar approach is probably part of the Hamilton solution, but it’s hardly a panacea, and it carries serious risks. Hamilton already has bylaws in place to move against landlords of illegal units. Since 2008, 200 charges have been laid, which sounds significant until you consider that estimates suggest there are as many as 23,000 illegal units citywide. If a licensing regime is in the works, the city needs to ensure inspection, and that means more inspection resources. If licensing doesn’t result in measurable results, it will be seen as just a cash grab and with good reason.

And what happens to people displaced by apartment licensing? What happens to the family in the illegal third unit when the house is scaled back to a legal duplex? There are 5,700 people looking for affordable housing in the city. As important, 15,000 renters spend at least half their income on shelter. Fewer rental units overall means more demand and probably higher prices, which will impact the people who can afford it least.

Inadequate affordable housing stock is not strictly a local problem. Senior governments need to become part of the solution by developing affordable housing strategies and programs, but there’s no indication that will happen any time soon, and in the meantime, cities such as Hamilton are largely on their own.

Whatever city council decides to do on this matter will entail carefully balancing the need to clamp down on illegal landlords with the need to protect vulnerable renters. Simply adopting a licensing system won’t deal with the larger picture, so is an inadequate response.